Pensacola Mayor Hayward offers few explanations for firing chiefs, twice refuses Inweekly requests

Yesterday, new evidence came to light that brought into question the independence of Beggs & Lane attorney Russell Van Sickle, whose investigation of Pensacola Fire Chief Matt Schmitt and Deputy Fire Chief Joe Glover led to Mayor Ashton Hayward firing both veteran firefighters. Read “Independence of Pensacola fire chiefs investigation questioned.”

Inweekly asked City PIO Vernon Stewart for someone with the City of Pensacola that would explain’s Van Sickle’s relationship with the city, the attorney’s work on the appeal process in new HR manual, and his work on matters related to the fire chiefs and to Edward Deas prior to his being hired for the investigation of the fire chiefs.

At 4:45 pm, Inweekly received this reply: “Those that would be able to speak on this topic (Mayor, Eric Olson, Keith Wilkins, Lysia Bowling and Ed Sisson) have declined this request.”

Last week, Mayor Hayward also refused an interview with the newspaper, as did Wilkins and Sisson.

Since he made his decision to fire Schmitt and Glover, Mayor Hayward has only given a handful of interviews. In none of those interviews has the mayor explained how he used the report to make his decision. He points to report as his justification for the terminations, but offers no specifics.

Mayor Hayward doesn’t say that the half of the complaints (BMW, Dinner Remarks, Drug Test) were found to be not worthy of any disciplinary action, much less gave cause for the terminations. The investigation of battalion pay raises found fault with City Administrator Eric Olson, Chief Human Resources Officer Ed Sisson and the chiefs. The complaint of not using an interview panel involved an unwritten protocol and inexplicably included the deputy chief in the complaint though clearly Glover was not involved in the decision. And the complaint involving Lt. Deas’ demotion concerned conflicting policies in the HR manual and the fire department chain-of-command that could have been resolved quickly by the mayor or Olson.

No one with the City has gone through Sisson’s six complaints–which are the basis of the costly three-month investigation–with the media and public and explained any of the findings.

Now after he stressed the report was the result of a “third party” investigation” to WUWF and told the Pensacola Voice the investigation was independent, the mayor has refused to explain Van Sickle’s relationship with the HR department and the attorney’s work with the city that are outlined in his invoices.

This is what Mayor Hayward has told reporters:

PNJ, “Mayor dismisses fire chiefs,” May 11
“Tough choices are bound to bring criticism, but it’s my responsibility to make them,” Hayward said. “I think after you read the report and the way they managed the office you just lose confidence.”

PNJ, “Firing was a smear, former deputy fire chief says,” May 12:
“I think it was looking at the overall report, and all the facts that are in the report, I was able to make the decision.”

WUWF, “Changes at the Top at the Pensacola Fire Dept.,” May 11
“You have input from your department heads, you know they were asking me to do an investigation of the fire department. So I said ‘If this is what everyone feels [then] let’s do it, let’s have a third party do it. Let’s make sure we’re covering everything.’ That’s exactly what we did. We got the report back and took out time reading it, got the input, and made the decision.”

“The retaliation is one part of it. The overall totality of the report – the facts supported what we talked about, so it was easy to look at the report and take my time, but most importantly make the decision.”

“I have to take into consideration that I have over 100 men and women [at the Fire Department] that are serving the citizens of Pensacola, and we need to make sure that we’re going the right thing. A decision was difficult, but the facts supported it. These are tough choices and are bound to have criticism, but it’s my responsibility to make them.”

WEAR TV, “Two top Pensacola fire officials let go,” May 10
“It’s very difficult as “the boss” to make decisions like this. There are substantial facts in the report that made it for me; easier than I anticipated.”

Pensacola Voice, “City Mayor Terminates Chief and Deputy Chief of the Fire Department,” May 13
On the EEOC complaints: “Those are a wholly unrelated to the investigation into my decision, Jacqui. EEOC complaints are handled by outside legal counsel and I don’t have anything to say about them. I’ve made that clear from the beginning. I think it’s important to separate the EEOC complaints from the investigation into the Fire Department management practices.”

“You know Jacqui, when you manage a 1,000 people and when things are brought to my light and you’ve got attorneys and our department head director, I said, ‘Listen, we are just going to do an independent investigation and we’re just going to get to the bottom of it.’ And that’s what we did. I think, most importantly, as we said, we worked smartly. We took our time, out of respect for the gentlemen, we got the report back we took our time on reading it. Obviously I spoke to counsel and we made a decision.

And I think Jacqui, the most important thing is, you know, leadership means having to deal with situations that are not pleasant. Tough choices are bound to bring criticism and it’s my responsibility to make them. One of, if not the, number one hardest decision I’ve made in close to six years and it’s not easy. I think you’re a smart lady, once you see the report and read the report you’ll understand what’s in the report and you’ll have more questions.”

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All broad statements without any specific details.